The Reason Why Southeast Asia Leads Global Crypto Adoption. The latest “Geography of Cryptocurrency” report from blockchain analytics company Chainalysis, shows that the level of crypto adoption in 2022 is dominated by countries in Southeast Asia.
Vietnam for example managed to lead the world in cryptocurrency adoption in 2022. The country, which topped the rankings for the second year in a row, is one of three Southeast Asian countries to top the 2022 list.
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“Vietnam is showing very high purchasing power and population-adjusted adoption across centralized cryptocurrency, DeFi (decentralized finance), and P2P (peer-to-peer) tools,” the report said. 2022).
A 2021 poll by Statista showed 21 percent of Vietnamese reported they own cryptocurrency. On this measure, the country is followed by the Philippines with a penetration of 20 percent.
Reasons Southeast Asia Leads
The ranking is dominated by countries categorized by the World Bank as “low-middle income”, such as Vietnam, the Philippines, Ukraine, India, Pakistan, and Thailand.
Generally, this is an economy where the national currency is weak and there is low availability of services to send or receive currency across borders.
“In such countries, many citizens rely on cryptocurrencies to send remittances, saving their savings in times of fiat currency volatility and meeting other financial needs unique to their economy,” Chainalysis said.
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Dorongan Game Play to Earn
This year’s poll by financial services firm Finder shows about 25 percent of Filipinos and 23 percent of Vietnamese are involved in a game that can make money.
In addition, the online game developer who was once a blockbuster Axie Infinity is based in Vietnam. According to Forbes, the success of Axie Infinity in the first half of 2022 is inspiring more crypto game startups to try to find success in the country.
Previously, Turkish authorities were reported to have confiscated USD 40 million or around Rp 623.1 billion of cryptocurrency and detained 46 people in an illegal gambling investigation.
The Reason Why Southeast Asia Leads Global Crypto Adoption. The detentions and seizures are part of an investigation into illegal gambling in eight provinces namely Ankara, Batman, Bingol, Kayseri, Kırıkkale, Mus, Van and Yozgat. The suspects allegedly brokered the transfer of illegally obtained funds to the crypto accounts of criminal organizations.
Gambling and casino tycoon Halil Falyal was shot dead on February 8 in an armed attack near his home in Kyrenia, a city on Cyprus’ northern coast. He is suspected of leading an illegal gambling business that is under investigation, according to a publication by the Turkish authorities.
“About USD 40 million of crypto assets, which were detected as being transferred to crypto asset exchanges at home and abroad, were confiscated,” the publication reads, quoted from Bitcoin.com, Tuesday (1/11/2022).
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Cryptocurrency worth USD 134.5 million has been transferred to the cryptocurrency accounts of a group of 11 people, including Falyal and his wife.
Turkish Interior Minister Süleyman Soylu said the seized $40 million worth of crypto assets may be just the beginning. It is estimated that there are still other crypto assets.
Meanwhile, according to several Turkish news outlets, some assets included in the USD 40 million were seized in the form of bitcoin (BTC) and tether (USDT).
Previously, Allied Market Research published a report on Bitcoin’s global payment projections. In the report, Allied Market Research revealed that the global Bitcoin payments market will reach USD 3.7 billion (Rp 57.7 trillion) by 2031.
This number is seen from a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 16.3 percent from 2022 to 2031. According to the document, operational demands for efficiency and transparency in payment systems, along with growth in data security services and a surge in demand for remittances in developing countries.
This is one of the main factors supporting the growth in the bitcoin payments sector in the years to come.
“Furthermore, the increasing demand for bitcoin among banks, and financial institutions, as well as the untapped potential in developing countries is expected to provide favorable opportunities for the expansion of the bitcoin payments market during the forecast period,” the report said. 2022).
Sectors Driving Bitcoin Payments
E-commerce transactions are likely to maintain their relevance in the sector, growing by nearly 20.2 percent in 2031, according to the report.
The Asia-Pacific region is expected to continue its market dominance in 2031, although the fastest growth is expected to come from North America, with a CAGR of 18.6 percent over the period.
Referring to the barriers and challenges, the report acknowledges that high deployment costs and low global awareness of Bitcoin usage may hinder the sector’s progress.
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The Reason Why Southeast Asia Leads Global Crypto Adoption. Distributed ledger technology has spread from cryptocurrencies to a large number of applications in the finance and government industries.
“However, many people and the financial industry and governments in developing countries such as India, Africa and Australia are less aware of transactions made using bitcoin payments, which is hampering the growth of the bitcoin payments market worldwide,” the report states.
On the other hand, the cryptocurrency bear market has affected the way people pay with crypto, but Bitcoin remains the main means of payment despite the enormous volatility, making up more than 50 percent of all sales on the payment service provider platform BitPay.
Data reveals sales volume of BTC payments on BitPay peaked at 87 percent in 2021 before declining during a bear market or slumping in 2022.